


Gonna burn the town (If you lie to me)

by Sparklyfairymira (myonetruelove)



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Confessions, Domestic Violence, Explicit Language, F/M, Flashbacks, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Non-Graphic Violence, Non-Linear Narrative, Pregnancy, Protectiveness, Substance Abuse, Unplanned Pregnancy, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-23
Updated: 2021-01-23
Packaged: 2021-03-15 13:01:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,632
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28938912
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/myonetruelove/pseuds/Sparklyfairymira
Summary: Lincoln thought he'd left his old life behind. He moved to a new city and became a cop. Then his biker ex Octavia shows up and turns his life into chaos once again.
Relationships: Octavia Blake/Lincoln
Comments: 8
Kudos: 15
Collections: The t100 Writers for BLM Initiative





	Gonna burn the town (If you lie to me)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [munequita](https://archiveofourown.org/users/munequita/gifts).



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Lincoln is tired. That’s the only thought running through his head as he pulls his bike into a parking spot. It’s been a long day and he’s ready to climb into bed. It’s his squad’s month of night shifts so the sun is just peeking over the horizon as he climbs off the bike. He stretches, readjusting the bag on his back. At least he has the day off so he can sleep for a good portion of the day. 

He begins to make his way toward his apartment, but something catches his gaze before he makes it very far. There is a bike parked just a few spaces over from his, purple and very familiar. But there’s no way that it can be hers, right? She’s not here, she’d have no reason to be.

“Hey, sexy. Long time no see.”

Lincoln freezes at the sound of her voice before turning to look up at the railing lining the second-floor apartments. It’s been five years but she looks exactly the same. Dark hair falling down her back, green eyes flashing with mischief, clothes snug against a body that he knows—knew—almost as well as his own. 

Octavia.

Lincoln steels himself as he makes his way to the stairs, fighting against memories he doesn’t want to remember. He doesn’t know why she’s here, but he won’t let her drag him back into that life. He’s in a better place now and he won’t let her tear it to pieces. 

He just needs to keep reminding himself of that.

She’s grinning at him when he reaches the top of the stairs and damn if he hasn’t missed her. He forces himself not to return the smile, turning to his apartment and unlocking it instead. He pushes open the door but doesn’t speak. He doesn’t stop her from coming inside, just ignores her presence altogether as he drops his bag on the floor and makes his way to the kitchen.

He pulls down his bottle of whiskey and a glass, pouring himself some before tossing it back. He breathes out—that helped some. He pours himself a little bit more before making his way back out to the living room. 

Octavia is looking around the living room—sparsely decorated and with no pictures. Who would he put a picture up of? Octavia? The woman he’s wanted to forget but hasn’t been able to? He has no family left and no one else special in his life. All he has is work, which is fine by him. 

“Why are you here?” he asks, her attention turning to him.

Octavia continues to smile at him for a moment before her façade falls, her head dropping. “I’m in trouble.”

Of course, she is. Why else would she be here?

* * *

**Five years earlier**

The wind whips around Lincoln as he pushes the bike faster. This is his favorite time—when it’s just him, his bike, and the open road. It’s the only time he’s ever felt really free. It’s one of the reasons he loves riding. It’s a way to forget everything and get out of his head. He wishes that he could stay out here all the time, but that’s not an option. 

He takes the turnoff that will bring him back to his apartment. He doesn’t need to look at the time to know that he’s been gone for hours. Disappointment at the ride being over rushes through him, but he does have to get back. Real life calls. This is how his rides always end, with him wanting more. He’s just lucky to live in a place that has a lot of windy roads that allow for the best rides.

He notices Octavia’s bike as he turns into his apartment complex, perking up a bit. He parks the bike, frowning when he checks his watch. Octavia should be on her way to work right now, so why is she here? He hurries to the apartment, shoving the door open.

Octavia is sitting on his couch, her arms wrapped around her legs that are pressed to her chest. Her face is covered in cuts and bruises, her left eye completely swollen shut, and her lip is still bleeding.

Lincoln rushes over to the couch, moving to take her into his arms before realizing that it will just hurt her more. He shakes his head as his eyes lock onto her one open eye. “What happened? Who the hell did this to you?” He’s practically vibrating with anger and he knows it’s lacing his voice, but he’s going to kill someone. 

Octavia shakes her head before leaning forward to press her forehead to her knees, her shoulders shaking as she cries.

“Octavia, you have to tell me who did this.” Lincoln lays his hand lightly on the back of her head as he squeezes his eyes shut, trying to reign in his anger. 

“If I tell you, you can’t go try and fix this,” Octavia mumbles between sniffs.

“You know I can’t promise that.” Lincoln sighs. “I need you to tell me what happened.”

Octavia turns her head slowly to look at him and it breaks his heart to see his strong, independent girlfriend looking this broken. “It was McCreary.”

Lincoln’s first clench at his side as his vision wavers, the anger intensifying. Of course, it was fucking McCreary. “Tell me what happened,” he says the words as calmly as he can, having to pause between words. 

“He said he needed help with a job, quick easy money as long as I didn’t ask a lot of questions.” Octavia shrugged. “I just figured he needed me to be arm candy. Which it turns out he did, but not for what I thought. He shot someone, Linc.” Octavia dissolves into tears. 

Lincoln’s jaw clenches as he runs his hand lightly through her hair. “Tell me the rest, O.”

“I told him I was going to go to the cops, so he said this beating was my warning. If I went to the cops I’m dead.”

Lincoln doesn’t even realize what he’s planning to do until his hand is on the doorknob and Octavia is calling out behind him. He shakes his head before calling over his shoulder, “Stay here. I’ll be back.”

He’s mad enough that he knows he shouldn’t be riding, but he still climbs onto his bike and tears out of the parking lot. More than likely McCreary will be at Eligius, the biker bar where he spends most of his time and if he’s not there, someone will know where he is. 

He’s probably driving faster than he should be but he can’t seem to find it in himself to slow down—he’s running on pure rage at this point. He jerks his bike into the parking lot, sending gravel flying but he doesn’t care as his eyes land on McCreary where he’s standing outside talking to another guy.

Lincoln jumps off his bike, tossing his helmet to the ground as he stalks toward McCreary. 

McCreary glances up and grins when he sees Lincoln walking over. “Hey, Lincoln. What’s-”

Lincoln’s fist flies out and into McCreary’s face, cutting off whatever he was about to say. He throws an elbow at the other guy when he attempts to get him off McCreary and then he loses his shit, wailing on McCreary.

He doesn’t know how long he does this for, because he’s pretty sure he blacks out—when he comes to his hands are bloodied and bruised and McCreary is passed out beneath him. 

What had he done?

How had he become this person?

He can’t do this anymore.

He can’t be a part of this life.

* * *

“Look, Octavia, I’m not in that life anymore.” Lincoln shakes his head. “I’m a cop now, I can’t have anything to do with that. You made a mistake coming here.”

Octavia shakes her head. “I know you’re a cop, and I didn’t have anywhere else to go.”

“What about Bellamy?”

“He said until I get my life together he can’t have anything else to do with me,” Octavia scoffs. “I have a niece and a nephew that I’ve never met.”

Lincoln isn’t surprised, he wonders how long it took after he left for her brother to lay down the law. “I still don’t understand what any of this has to do with me.”

“I’m pregnant.”

The words make Lincoln freeze, but then he shakes his head. It’s not like it can be his. They haven’t been together for five years, but there’s just something about that sentence that makes men freeze on the spot. “I still don’t understand what that has to do with me or why you’re here.”

Octavia looks at him for a moment before looking away. “Maybe I should just go.”

“Oh, no. We’re not playing this game, Octavia. You came here for a reason and you’re going to tell me what that reason is. You’re not just going to drop into my life and then disappear without an explanation. That’s not how this works.” Lincoln isn’t ready for her to go yet—no matter how angry he is with her, he still loves her. He still wants to see her, see how she’s doing. It doesn’t make sense but that’s where he’s at. 

“The baby is Atom’s.”

Lincoln throws his mostly empty glass against the wall as the rage washes through him. She’s got to be fucking kidding.

* * *

**Seven years earlier**

Lincoln sits down on the barstool, eyes immediately landing on the beautiful bartender. A petite brunette with her hair pulled up in a ponytail, piercing green eyes, and radiating a bad attitude—all of his favorite things wrapped up into one. When she turns her back, he can see the edges of a tattoo peeking out from her shirt, and he grins. 

“What can I get for you?” she asks when she finally makes her way down to him, not even a hint of a smile on her lips.

“I’ll take whatever beer you have on tap,” Lincoln replies, watching as she pours him his drinking, sliding it in front of him. “And what does a smile cost around here?”

She considers him for a moment, lips pursed. “Something worth smiling about?”

Lincoln grins, holding his hand out to her. “I’m Lincoln and I’d really like to get to know you.”

“Octavia.” She takes his hand with a quirk of her eyebrow, but no smile. “I hope that wasn’t your attempt at getting me to smile.”

“Nope.” Lincoln brings her hand to his lips, pressing a kiss there and he sees her start to smile before lifting her brows at him. “I just wanted to make sure I had your name before I made an ass of myself. Did you hear about the chameleon who couldn't change color?” He pauses and waits for her to shake her head before continuing, “He had a reptile dysfunction.”

Octavia stares at him for a moment before shaking her head and laughing, her smile bright on her face. “That was so bad.”

“But it got you to smile, didn’t it?”

“It did.” Octavia glances down the bar, holding her finger up to someone. “Duty calls, but I expect some better jokes when I come back.”

Lincoln grins to himself as he watches her walk away. Maybe this new town won’t be so bad after all. He’d only meant to come in for a beer, but he stays for hours—mostly just to keep talking to Octavia. Sure, she’s beautiful, but she’s also smart and funny and he’s already half in love with her. 

“Hey, baby,” a guy says as he leans across the bar to kiss Octavia.

Octavia jerks away from him. “I’m not your baby anymore, Atom.”

“C’mon, Octavia. You’ll always be my baby, you know that,” Atom smirks and Lincoln wants to wipe the smirk off of his face. 

“Atom, we’re over.” Octavia slams her hands onto the bar as she meets his eyes. “I’m not going to tell you this again. We’re over and you need to leave me the fuck alone.”

Lincoln can’t hold his tongue anymore. “It doesn’t seem like the lady is interested, buddy.”

Atom turns to him with a glare. “I don’t see how this is any business of yours, so I’d recommend butting the fuck out.”

“I tend to make things my business when men don’t seem to understand when a woman is telling them no.” Lincoln stands up slowly, using his size as an intimidation factor.

Atom’s anger is written all over his face as he turns to Octavia. “You’re going to regret this.” He turns to Lincoln. “Both of you.”

Lincoln doesn’t sit back down until Atom and his friends storm out of the bar. When he turns around Octavia is frowning at him. “You didn’t need to do that. I could’ve handled him on my own.”

“I don’t doubt that.” Lincoln shrugs. “But you shouldn’t have to.”

Octavia offers him a small smile as she nods. “Well, thank you.”

“It was my pleasure.” He takes a drink of his beer as he continues to watch Octavia work. She fascinates him. 

A little while later he heads to the bathroom while Octavia heads to the back room, but when he makes it back she’s still not back. He turns to the other bartender. “Where’s Octavia?”

The other girl frowns. “She said she was going to go grab something from the back, but she hasn’t made it back up here yet.”

Lincoln immediately heads for the door that he’d seen her go through earlier, ignoring the other bartender calling after him. “Octavia?” he calls out as he makes his way through the backroom, but she’s nowhere to be found. There is a door that’s open just a sliver, letting in some light from outside and when he hears a whimper he rushes over.

He throws open the door to find Atom kicking Octavia, who is curled into a ball on the ground, while his two friends watch. He lets out a growl as he launches himself at Atom. It’s not the first time he’s lost himself in a fight—in fact, it’s more common than he’d like. When he breaks free of his anger, Atom is on the ground unconscious and there is a knife sticking out of his side. 

Fantastic.

“Oh, my God, Lincoln! Are you okay?” Octavia drops down beside him, face battered and bruised and she’s worrying about him. “I called the cops, they’re on the way.”

“Good, because I’m going to need to go to the hospital.” Lincoln tries to force a smile, but he’s sure it comes out looking more like a grimace. “You too. Are you okay?”

“I’ll be fine.” Octavia shakes her head, tears streaming down her face. “Why would you do this? You don’t even know me.”

Lincoln shrugs, immediately regretting it as it pulls at his knife wound. “I plan to rectify that, but also men should never hit women.”

“There are easier ways to get girls to go out with you, you know that right?” Octavia laughs through her tears.

“Oh, does that mean you’re going to go out on a date with me?”

“Yes.” Octavia nods. “Most definitely.”

And that almost makes getting stabbed better—almost.

  
  


“Why would you go back to him?” Lincoln tries to reign in his anger, but it’s hard. Octavia left him the first time because he was an abusive bastard and she went back to him? 

“You left me!” Octavia screams.

Lincoln shakes his head. “Oh, no you don’t. You do  _ not _ get to blame this one me. I asked you to come with me, I told you I wanted us both to get out of that life, but you decided that the drugs meant more to you than I did.” 

“That’s not what happened.” Octavia looks down at the floor before sitting on the couch. “I didn’t think you actually wanted me to come. I thought you were only asking out of pity. I didn’t want you to pity me.”

“Jesus, O! I wouldn’t have asked you if I didn’t want you to come with me. I was in love with you—of course, I wanted you to come with me.” Lincoln squeezes his eyes shut, forcing himself to breathe. This is not what he needed after getting off shift. He just wanted to go to sleep—not rehash things that he’d thought were ancient history.

“Why are you here, O?” he asks again as he runs a hand down his face, desperately trying to keep his shit together. 

Octavia wipes at her face, drawing Lincoln’s attention to the fact that she’s crying. “I can’t do this alone...and I need to get clean for this baby. I can’t go back there Lincoln—I can’t let Atom know that the baby is his. He can never know.”

Lincoln continues to watch her, not flinching when her eyes meet his. “So what do you want from me?”

“I was hoping you could help me find a good rehab.” Octavia swallows, stumbling over her words a bit. “I know it’s a big ask and you don’t owe me anything, but I’d like to put your name down as the father.”

Lincoln blinks at her a moment, not sure that he’s heard her correctly. Did she just ask to put his name down as the father of her child? After not seeing her for five years? He laughs a little because he doesn’t know why he’s surprised. This is exactly something that she would do. 

“Anyone who looks at Atom’s baby will know that it’s not mine, Octavia.” Lincoln shakes his head but also wonders why he isn’t saying no. 

“That doesn’t matter,” Octavia pleads as she stands up and makes her way over to him. “Please just let me list your name and then Atom won’t know to look for us. You won’t have to have anything to do with either of us-”

“Do you really think so little of me?” Lincoln spits out. “That I would have nothing to do with a child that is listed as mine? No. That’s not how that will work, but we’ll discuss that  _ after _ rehab. I’m not making this decision with you until you’re clean and sober.”

Lincoln grabs his phone and sends a message to a buddy of his. “A friend of mine had to send his mom to rehab, and it was a really good place so we’ll see if we can get you-”

“I don’t have any money.”

“Of course you don’t.” Lincoln shakes his head. “That’s fine, I’ll worry about that. The important thing is getting you clean.” 

* * *

**Three months later…**

Lincoln leans back against his bike as he watches the front of the building. He’s not sure why he’s here—he most definitely didn’t tell Octavia he was going to be here. But he just couldn’t seem to stay away. He’s only seen her a handful of times since dropping her off at the rehab, but she seemed to be doing well each time. But he’s been trying to keep his distance—which obviously isn’t working. 

He’s afraid to let her in because he doesn’t know if he can stand to lose her again. But he’s also not sure how he can deal with her in his life again—at least not the way that she was before. Octavia when she’s using is like living on a razor’s edge—anger one minute and then crying the next. He’d loved her, but he’d never loved her on drugs.

He laughs to himself, because who is he fooling? Five years away from her and he still loves her. And he hasn’t been able to get her off of his mind since the moment his eyes landed on her outside of his apartment. His dreams have been of nothing but her—his waking thoughts always making their way to her. It’s how he ended up here today. He just couldn’t stop thinking about seeing her. 

The door opens and there’s Bellamy, looking older than the last time that Lincoln had seen him, as he holds the door for Octavia who is showing a lot more since the last time he visited.

Lincoln pushes off of his bike and heads over to the siblings, smiling when Bellamy’s eyes land on him. “Bellamy. It’s good to see you.” He extends his hand and Bellamy hesitates for just a moment before shaking it.

“You too, Lincoln. Thank you for helping O get set up here.” Bellamy smiles as he turns to Octavia. “I would’ve answered the phone if she would’ve called, but I understand why she didn’t.”

Lincoln’s eyes land on Octavia who is looking up at him, a question in her eyes. “Do you mind if Octavia and I have a moment before you guys head out?”

“Yeah, yeah, of course. I’ll be in the car, O.” 

Lincoln waves at Bellamy without looking away from Octavia. Pregnancy is a good look on her. Sobriety is a good look on her. He doesn’t fight the smile that forms at that thought. “How are you doing?”

“Good.” Octavia’s hands move to her stomach. “She’s enough of a reason to do this.”

“It’s a girl?” 

Octavia’s face lights up. “It is. I just found out a few weeks ago, just after your last visit actually.” She shrugs. “I know it’ll be hard and I know I have a long road ahead of me, but Bellamy has agreed to help and that means a lot. And I finally get to meet my niece and nephew.” She pauses for a moment. “Is my bike still at your place?”

“It is.” Lincoln nods. “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure to get it to Bellamy’s for you.”

“Not that I’ll be riding any time soon.” Octavia laughs as she runs a hand down her stomach.

“Maybe not, but I’ll make sure it’s there for you when you can ride again.” He pauses for a moment and takes a deep breath. “You can put me down as the father.”

“What?”

Lincoln laughs at the shocked look on her face. “You can put me down as her father, but I want to  _ be _ her father. We’ll figure out what that looks like, but I want you to be free of that life and that little girl deserves to have a good dad and we both know Atom won’t be one.”

“This is too much, Lincoln.” Octavia looks away. “I know now that I was asking too much of you.”

Lincoln reaches out, cupping her chin, and turning her to face him. “It’s not too much. Let’s face it, after five years away from you I still love you—that’s not going anywhere. So let me be the father to your child and we’ll figure out our stuff too.” 

“Really?”

Lincoln laughs. “Really, but for now you need to focus on your recovery. That’s more important than you and me. Your baby—our baby—is what comes first.”

A tear slides down Octavia’s cheek before she throws her arms around Lincoln. It’s a little more awkward because of her pregnancy, but for just a moment Lincoln lets himself think how nice it is to have her back in his arms again.

* * *

**4 months later…**

Lincoln pulls his car to the side of the phone when his phone goes off. He can’t exactly pull people over for using their phones if he does the same thing, as he reminds himself of regularly. 

_ Baby is coming. Bell is taking me to the hospital. _

Lincoln stares at the phone for a moment before it hits him—Octavia is in labor. He sends her a quick response and then dials the station.

“Arkadia Police Department, this is Vera. How may I direct your call?”

“Vera, it’s OfficerWoods.”

“Lincoln, hello. What can I do for you?”

“Octavia is in labor, I need to get to the hospital. So I need to be taken off duty.” Lincoln is already keying in the address to the hospital on his GPS.

“Oh, goodness, yes. Congratulations, Lincoln. I will make sure that they know you’re off duty.”

Lincoln hangs up the phone without another word, knowing that Vera will forgive him as his mind races. It won’t take long for him to get to the hospital, nothing in Arkadia is very far away, but he needs to calm down before he starts driving. 

In the four months since Octavia was released from rehab, she’d moved to Arkadia to live with her brother and his family. Lincoln had moved a mere two weeks after she had, as soon as he’d spoken to Commander Kane who had been happy to welcome him to the Arkadia PD. He’d bought a house on the outskirts of town and had been spending a lot of his time off-duty fixing it up. 

He and Octavia are still working on what is broken between them and she’s been living with Bellamy, but that will all change when the baby is born. The first room that Lincoln had fixed up was the nursery and he and Octavia had agreed that they could only do this together. So once their daughter is born, both she and Octavia will be coming home with Lincoln. He’s excited, but also nervous. What the hell does he know about kids? 

But he knows that he and Octavia will work it out. They love each other and they already love their daughter. It’s nothing that they can’t figure out. Feeling calmer he pulls the car back out onto the road and makes his way to the hospital. As he rushes inside he curses himself for still being in uniform and for his bike still being at the police station, but that’s not nearly as important as the arrival of his daughter. 

He finds Octavia and discovers very quickly that birth for addicts sucks. For hours he sits beside Octavia, letting her yell at him, squeeze his hand—whatever she needs since she didn’t want to chance getting an epidural. Every minute breaks his heart, but he’s never been prouder or more sure of how strong Octavia is.

When his daughter is placed into his arms, he knows he’s done for. These two women are his whole life and he’ll do anything for them. “Hello, Avery, I’m your daddy.”

And though Avery might not be his blood, she is his daughter—he will love her just as much as any other child he and Octavia might have. She’s their first baby and the fact that she’s not biologically his doesn’t mean anything to him. His heart feels like it’s going to burst with the amount of love he feels for her. 

Avery Grace Woods.

A beautiful name for a beautiful baby.

“Marry me,” the words fall from Lincoln’s lips before he even realizes he’s been thinking them. 

“I’m sorry, what?” Octavia tears her gaze away from Avery to blink up at Lincoln.

Lincoln laughs. “That is not how I imagined doing this, but who cares. I’ve never stopped loving you and I want the three of us to be a family—to share a name and a home. Marry me, O.”

Octavia’s hands come to her mouth as her eyes fill with tears and then she’s nodding. “Yes. Yes. A hundred times yes.”

And as Lincoln leans down to press his lips to hers, he can’t stop smiling. Not only does he have a new daughter, but he’s going to marry the love of his life. Too bad the ring he picked out is at home, but it’s okay, he can give that to her later. For now, they can bask in the glow of their happiness—no ring needed for that. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Kudos and comments are always appreciated!
> 
> Again, t100fic4blm initiative is currently running a survey and we'd love your feedback [here](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfXcFI3r7_wdL0H9iyx6SLnM3Ey9bF8LaiTxYSSqXpg9bqxDw/viewform) and it is completely anonymous. 
> 
> If you're interested in seeing what else I'm writing and what my planned publication dates for that is, please check out my Tumblr post [HERE](https://sparklyfairymira.tumblr.com/post/632973715782729728/prompt-fic-updates).


End file.
